Hit Netflix Series Adolescence, exposes the dangerous Incel culture promoted by Andrew Tate

Police obtain a shockingly graphic video of a 13-year-old student stabbing fellow classmate to death in a carpark.

This is the scene that closes the first episode of Adolescence. Yet it could easily be a headline from today’s newspapers. The Netflix special shines a light on the dangers of online incel culture and the radicalisation that many youngsters are at risk of nowadays.

Despite the series only being four episodes long it makes a chilling impact. Each episode is shot in a single take, an impressive technical feat as it requires every department from sound, to camera, lighting and actors to pull off a perfect performance in synchronisation. With no cuts to divide the scenes, the stakes are kept high and the tension palpable. The audience is on the edge of their seat throughout the 4 hours, until the final shattering close where Jamie finally admits to his gruesome crime.

The questions that viewers are left with throughout the series and even at its conclusion is Why? Though this is somewhat answered by the slight nod to bullying. It is wholly unsatisfying in explaining how a seemingly normal 13-year-old could go on to what he did. The answer to this lies in a far more sinister reality that is pervasive throughout the internet. It is the reason behind various mass shootings, online misogyny and the Andrew Tate phenomenon.

‘Incel’ short for involuntary celibate, refers to men that have a desire to have sex but are unable to find willing sexual partners. In Adolescence this is mentioned as the 80/20 rule; that 80% of women will only choose the top 20% of men. They in turn blame women for their sexlessness and thus begin to harbour feelings of resentment and violence towards women and girls. This is has often manifested in real life crimes, such as the infamous Eliot Rodger who killed 10 people in 2018 or Jake Davison a man from Plymouth who murdered 5 people including his own mother.

These cases and Jamie’s fictionalised story lie on the extreme end of the spectrum, however the root cause between them all is dangerous online misogyny. Andrew Tate is a social media personality famous within the ‘Manosphere’ a collection of blogs, websites and forums promoting masculinity, and misogyny.  As a former professional Kickboxer, Tate has now carved an online space for himself as a guru for young boys and men. He advocates for a traditional masculinity, focusing on wealth creation and personal health famously going viral for the meme “What colour is your Bugatti.”

Yet there are more sinister aspects to his messaging, saying women “are a man’s property”, that rape victims should” bear responsibility” for the attacks on them, whilst also promoting violence, “boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up bitch”.

Tate is facing a new lawsuit as his ex-girlfriend accused him of sexual assault, battery and gender violence, of March 2025. Tate also faces rape charges in Romania and has been accused of similar crimes in the past. With such a personality at the helm of many popular sites, it is perfect gateway for disgruntled men and boys to transform into more frightening persona.

Nevertheless, Tate is only part of the problem. Standards for young people are becoming impossibly hard to reach. Social media is littered with people who have the perfect body, the perfect jobs, millions in their bank, holidaying in picturesque locations every second month. The boots cannot be filled, and young men are left thinking that if they don’t belong in that top 20% they are doomed to live their lives alone and loveless.

Adolescence has finally raised the conversation, that has gone relatively unheard in the past decade. We need to radically reconstruct the conversation around masculinity. Young boys and men are in desperate need of a positive view on what it means to be a man in the modern age. In void of this, the space will be filled by radicals such as Tate and violence against women and girls will continue to rise.